Goodspeed Biography of William F. Blevins

William F. Blevins, a well-known, enterprising merchant of Darwin Station, Rhea County, was born in Meigs County, October 27, 1835, and is a son of James and Ruth (Rockhold) Blevins. [For further particulars of parents see sketch of A. C. Blevins.] Our subject is one of nine children. He received a common school education, and worked on his father’s farm up to the breaking out of the late war. In July, 1862, he entered the Confederate service, enlisting in the Fifth Tennessee Cavalry, the captain of the company being W. W. Lillard. Our subject took part in the battles of Perryville, Ky., and Chickamauga Creek, and the Georgia campaign from Dalton to Atlanta, etc. He returned home in the spring of 1865 after an absence of nearly three years. He was second lieutenant of his company. After the war he read law, obtained license to practice but abandoned the profession for mercantile pursuits. For a few years he clerked for his brothers, but afterward entered the business for himself; during all this time he was in Decatur, Meigs County. In 1870 he was appointed clerk and master of the chancery court of Meigs County, and served six years; he was re-appointed to the same office in 1876 and again served six years. He was first appointed to that position by Chancellor D. M. Key, and the second time by Chancellor William M. Bradford. May 11, 1871, he married Miss Mary E. Russell, a native of Meigs County, born September 7, 1842, and this marriage resulted in the birth of four children — two sons and two daughters, one son being deceased. The children are named as follows: Ethel, born December 8, 1872; Braxton b., born April 27, 1876; William B., born August 12, 1878 and died October 28, 1883; and Daisy May, born December 2, 1881. In the early part of 1883 Mr. Blevins moved to Darwin Station, having purchased a dwelling, a store-house and a remnant stock of goods the previous December. Since that time he has been engaged in merchandising. He is a Democrat in his political views, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.